Bleeding Cool had this interesting article on the possible reasons why DC Nation was abruptly pulled from the schedule:

Quote:

There have been several people willing to talk, all of them anonymously. Pretty much everything I heard from one person was corroborated by another. So I’ve compiled it all. Even when it seems like overkill, or contradiction, none of this came from just one source.

Here are the theories, all of them posited as fact by sources of various standing. Treat them as rumours, but I know which ones I’d put my stock in.

1. Young Justice is the biggest problem

Young Justice characters like Static and Rocket were created as part of Milestone, the DC imprint designed to reset the balance of ethnic representation in comic books. I’m no expert on the ins and outs of it, but we’re hearing there’s a rights issue here, with extra royalties due for the use of these characters – and particularly in respect of them appearing on merchandise.

2. Nobody is buying any toys

Talking of merch, there are some voices telling us that these shows just weren’t shifting enough of the ancillary tie-ins, and this also had a knock-on effect on the value of advertising slots. If the Green Lantern toys were flying off the shelves, it would make sense to remind the kids they exist before, during and after every episode; seeing as they’re not, the ad would be pretty much a waste of dollars.

This is particularly problematic in the run up to December where Cartoon Network want to offer their gung-ho ‘Holiday’ advertisers the kind of slots they want – and, apparently, they don’t want slots during DC Nation.

3. Production delays

The block was running out of “shorts” and “extras” and was essentially going to turn into just Young Justice and Green Lantern back to back, so the idea of a DC-themed hour that gave space lots of their different properties was waning. By holding fire until January, the whole package will be complete again, maximising its value as overall DC branding.

4. Cartoon Network and WB had a falling out over future shows

Work on Beware the Batman was not pleasing Cartoon Network, and an unannounced Justice League show wasn’t cutting it either, so the partnership started to disagree about future directions. Rather than plough on, they’ve decided to burn off the episodes so far produced, dissolve the block and deal with each future DC-themed show on an ad-hoc, one-by-one basis.

So there’s a lot of chatter going on about DC Nation, but still no official statement about what will happen in January or beyond. We’ll keep digging. Expect to hear more about at least two of the above notions in the coming days.

One of the show's creators also insinuated via twitter that CN doesn't feel that the style of the show appeals to today's kids (likely the ongoing story line throughout the season).

I can kinda see CN argument/side of this.People keep saying YJ is just a kids show, but in my view it skews more to the adult.And not just in the ongoing seasonal storyline.The tone and imagery of the show is really dark and foreboding. Not really what you see in a kids show.And the show does somethings and has some themes that even I as a twenty-something find KINDA CREEPY.And if I a twenty-something thinks that, what do kids think?

But at the same time a good chunk of the problem is the corporations involved.CN Never deciding/knowing when they are going to show it. The lack of consistent showings is whats killing this show.Mattel making a very sub-par toy line. They should have never made it a "continuation", "in the spirit of" JLU.

Hope all this stuff doesn't delay Beware the Batman. That is one show and toy line I am seriously looking forward to.

I really hope we do see Beware of the Batman. I really like what I've seen so far, and I think that version of Batman would make outstanding looking toys. Reminds me of the Golden Age Bats + Bruce Timm simplicity.

Anyways, since Warner Brothers owns Cartoon Network, I highly doubt they will give up on DC Animated shows. CN should really take the more adult-oriented stuff like the animated movies and shows like Young Justice and air a block during the "Adult Swim" hours. At least one night a week.

Air the kid stuff on Saturday mornings and have Mattel make those toys. If Mattel isn't interested in producing products based on adult animated properties, let DC Collectibles, Medicom, Square Enix, Funko, etc. have a crack at them.

DC should do a Batman Inc. cartoon. Batman with a different new character/teamup, different environments, etc. It's tailor made for being adapted into a cartoon. Surprised they don't have it in the pipeline as of yet.

I don't understand why it's so hard to get things off the ground in the first place. The content has been written. It doesn't always have to be something fresh and new, just adapt the stories they have been writing for the past 70+ years.

I hope the "YJ is too mature" theory is wrong, unfortunately there's a precedent to this kind of ignorance. BTAS, STAS and JLU were mature cartoons that could be enjoyed on several levels, why can't YJ be as well? And after all these years, can't they realize their demographic is not just kids?

The Milestone royalties sounds off, there'd have to be a lot of lawyers asleep at the wheel to catch something like that this late.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the "toys aren't selling" theory. They're just now getting word that YJ toys were cancelled and that there is no GL:TAS merchandise?

Now production delays I can believe. The 6 month hiatus between episodes 9-10 of YJ gives that theory credit.

So far, Beware the Batman has impressed very few, but I'd heard they pushed to January in order to include Beware the Batman into the block.

The simplest explanation is, it's Cartoon Network, they do this all the time. Remember countries outside the US getting the conclusion to the Cadmus storyline first? Remember BB&tB episodes hanging on itunes before they aired?

Either way, this is real bad. DC's Bat-less franchises can't get traction in Hollywood, and now they're falling apart on the small screen? Such a shame